


Honest Mistake

by beloved_key



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Broken Bones, Gen or Pre-Slash, Injury, Team as Family, Training accident, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 01:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16863304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beloved_key/pseuds/beloved_key
Summary: Considering the fact that Allura could prove a great asset in paladin training, it really was a shame that her first practical lesson turned out so poorly.





	Honest Mistake

Considering the fact that Allura could prove a great asset in paladin training, it really was a shame that her first practical lesson turned out so poorly.

She wanted to start out with a sparring session, to assess everyone’s ability (and if she were honest, her own; she knew she was horribly out of practice). Shiro had first slot against her, and it went very well; after a fair amount of dodging, grappling, and various cheers from the other paladins (none of whom had taken any formal sides), Allura emerged victorious, holding Shiro down for a five-count, grinning elatedly at the others’ excited whoops.

“Nice one, Allura!” Lance cheered the loudest; he usually did during these sparring sessions. “No one ever gets the drop on Shiro, that was awesome!”

“It was a challenge, to be sure.” Allura helped the black paladin to his feet, relieved when he smiled at her with pride. “I daresay the fight would have gone differently had we been permitted weapons.”

“Still, hand-to-hand combat against stronger enemies is something we definitely need practice in.” Shiro stepped out of the ring, sitting down with the others and accepting the water pouch Keith passed him. “Who wants to go next?”

“Oh! I’ll go!” Lance lept to his feet, slamming on his helmet and falling into a fighting stance. “Don’t expect me to go easy on you just ‘cause you’re pretty, Princess.”

“I doubt that will make much of a difference in the outcome of this match, Lance.” Allura fired back, the playful banter adding more energy to her already racing heart. It had been so long since she’d been able to do anything like this; rank and position didn’t matter in the sparring ring, she didn’t have to worry about battle strategies or Zarkon or anything but this fight, for the first time in what felt like ages…

What happened next was a blur; a sudden, harsh gasp from Lance when one of Allura’s strikes made contact, and a sickening crack from the arm he’d raised to deflect the blow. All of a sudden, Lance was on the ground, and the others were shouting, and Allura instinctively backed away, trying to comprehend what was going on.

“What did you do?!?” In an instant, Keith was advancing on her, Pidge clinging to his arm, trying to hold him back with all her weight (with minimal success) while Shiro and Hunk crouched around Lance, blocking him from view.

“I-I don’t know, I was just… We were just sparring, I-I…” Allura still had no idea what had actually happened. Hearing raised voices, Shiro murmured something to Hunk, then stood up, relieving Pidge of the duty of restraining Keith.

“Keith, stand down! She didn’t mean to, we all forgot to account for it--it’s no one’s fault, just a mistake.” Shiro stated firmly. The same leaderly voice Allura had spent years cultivating, imitating her father, seemed to flow so naturally from his mouth, and Keith reluctantly obeyed.

While the other three were distracted, Allura made her way over to Lance, who was…

“Oh, no.” Allura breathed.

Lance was hunched over on the ground, breathing shallowly and clutching at his arm, which even through the armor Allura could see was bent in an unnatural manner. Humans lacking any ability to alter the state of their bone matter, that could only mean that Lance’s arm was… That Allura had…

“I-I broke your arm.” She murmured in disbelief. Hunk glanced over, briefly distracted from his attempts at coaxing Lance to let him remove his armor plating.

“Allura--”

“Lance, I-I’m so sorry.” The princess fell to her knees next to Hunk, gently reaching out to hold Lance’s other hand. “I didn’t realize--I didn’t think, I-I’m sorry.”

Lance tried to smile, but all he could manage was a pained grimace. “Eh… Shoulda figured you’d have a strong right swing, eh, Princess? I’ll live, just g-gotta… Man up and let Hunk set it…”

“Set--oh! Yes, of course!” Allura’s scrambled brain had briefly forgotten that a break that bad would have to be set before Lance could be put in a cryopod, but the seriousness of the situation forced her to pull it together. “Pidge! Could you fetch Coran? Tell him we need a local anesthetic.”

Pidge nodded, throwing a quick “on it!” over her shoulder as she ran from the training deck. Keith was still glaring darkly at Allura, but she didn’t pay him any mind; she could worry about mending things with Keith when Lance was tended to.

“Lance, it would be very helpful of you to allow Hunk to remove your armor.” Allura requested gently. Lance visibly paled.

“I was worried--ngh! Worried you’d ask me to do that.” Lance’s grip on Allura’s hand tightened, but he gingerly uncurled his arm, allowing Hunk to slowly remove the arm plates. Several times, Lance bit back a whimper, but Allura could always tell by the way his grip tightened on her fingers.

“Lemme know if I’m hurting you.” Lance gasped out eventually. Shiro and Keith were keeping their distance, standing by to help Lance to the healing pod or fetch something after Allura could assess how bad the break was. Allura laughed sardonically.

“Believe me, Lance, you aren’t even close to hurting me. Although I daresay I’d deserve it, after this.” She answered ruefully. Lance forced his eyes open, looking up at her.

“It’s not your fault, Allura.” He said firmly, wincing as Hunk began sliding the sleeve of his undersuit up. “None of us thought about the strength difference, and Shiro always blocks with his metal arm. Plus, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but--agh! B-but Shiro’s like… So buff. His bones have more padding.”

Despite herself, Allura laughed. “The thought had crossed my mind once or twice.”

“I’ll catch up, though.” Lance asserted, making a solid attempt at his usual, confident smirk. Allura rewarded his efforts by raising the hand that held hers in a vicegrip and kissing it gently.

“I daresay you will.”

Just as Hunk finished exposing the wound (no blood, thank the stars), Pidge returned with Coran and a jar of numbing cream. Lance’s grip on Allura’s hand gradually loosened as Coran babbled on in an attempt at distracting his patient and applied the cream, which worked so well that when Keith and Shiro came to help him up, Lance asked if they were going to set his arm first, and was very surprised to be told that Coran had already done it.

“You tricked me!” He gasped, pretending to be hurt. “Like a baby getting a shot!”

The break was clean, luckily, so a few vargas later Lance was out of the cryopod and challenging the others to an arm wrestling match, claiming that he wanted to see if the healing process had boosted his strength at all. Hunk was the first to take him up on his offer, and easily defeated the healing-weakened Lance. Mysteriously, however, when Allura offered to try, Lance managed to find the strength he needed to win.

And Allura’s apologetic gaze was met with a gentle, forgiving smile. They wore thick, practice armor adapted from Altean hunting wear for the next sparring session.

**Author's Note:**

> I kinda like this one, hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment/kudos, love you!


End file.
